Trick or Vote: The Best Way on the Best Day

Matt Singer in a teletubby costume
The author prepares for Trick or Vote in 2007

Pop Quiz Time:

  1. What is the single most effective way to mobilize voters?
    a) Visibilities
    b) Sitting on a couch and bitching
    c) Talking to ‘em face-to-face
  2. What holiday always immediately precedes Election Day and has a built-in tradition of door-knocking?
    a) Halloween
    b) The 4th of July
    c) Festivus
  3. What does everyone love?
    a) Rick Rolling
    b) Costumes!
    c) Voting
    d) All of the above

All of us who work in the field of youth engagement face big competition. The biggest competition we face – for volunteers, for attention – is not from one another’s organizations either. It’s from the Wii (which is sweet) and the bar scene and friends and loved ones. Our biggest challenge is overcoming that noise and building a politics that is fun and exciting and relevant to people’s lives.

That’s what makes Trick or VoteTM so freaking sweet. It’s the Best Way on the Best Day.

It’s actually such a sweet idea it doesn’t even really need an explanation. But here it is in a nutshell: Get some people who are a bit too old to trick or treat (go as young as high school and as old as the retirement home for your recruitment), rally ‘em in costume, meet in a centralized location, train these folks to canvass effectively, and knock some doors.

In short, we combine a cultural more (knock doors on Halloween) with hard-minded political research (knocking doors is an effective voter mobilization tool).

The result?

  • More volunteers. In Portland in 2004, 850 canvassers assembled for the largest mass canvass in the history of the state. By all accounts, this year will be even bigger.
  • More virgin volunteers. Out of that same crowd in Portland, more than one-in-three were first-time political volunteers who came out of the woodwork for a program well-suited to help our fellow citizens lose their voter virginity.
  • More conversations. On Halloween evening, people are home – either waiting for trick-or-treaters or getting ready for their parties. They’re even prepared to open the door. And they’re definitely ready to engage in a conversation. All of which means that we don’t just hit more doors, we hit more doors in a more effective manner.
  • More voters. Do the math -- more canvassers, more conversations, and more doors? More people are hitting the polls.

The Bus Federation wants to take Trick or VoteTM national this year – and we can do it with your help. If you’re part of a local or national organization that is serious about doing Trick or VoteTM, get in touch soon so we can coordinate our efforts. Contact Alex Aronson at the Oregon Bus Project @ 503-233-3018.

Just looking for a project for the fall and think you could pull off a kick-ass Trick or Vote in your hometown? Or even just want to assemble 15 of your closest friends and friends-of-friends and friendly-friends-of-friends’-friends and go hit some doors? Drop us a line. I swear to you, you’ll be glad you did.

Major props, by the way, to our friends at the Bus for this innovative program -- Trick or Vote is their brainchild.

Answers to the pop quiz: 1-b, 2-c, 3-a

Matt Singer is the CEO of Forward Montana, dedicated to training, mobilizing, and electing a new generation of progressive leaders. Forward Montana is a charter (get it?) organization of the Bus Federation.

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I love trick or vote!

This is absolutely the best way to get a bunch of people canvassing right before the election!

The first time I did this was as a volunteer my freshman year of highschool in .. errr .. okay I'll admit it 1992. We definitely called it trick or vote (no tm back then) but we definitely weren't as awesome at it as the bus project folks. I have done it around five times since, as either a volunteer or an organizer, and it is always a good time and is very effective.

Anyone looking for a kick ass way to combine fun and activism needs to sign up for this project.

This year, Halloween is on the Friday right before Election Day ... I honestly can't wait to see how huge this whole thing gets ... great post Matt!

Trick or Vote is great

I remember doing this in 2004. Everyone was really excited about canvassing in their costumes. You can't go wrong with anything that gets people excited to do door-to-door voter contact.

Kevin Bondelli